Tarethios Flamekeeper
An aging elven man with a desire to gain all the knowledge within the worlds and with a cold, calculative nature. Combine these characterics with a small size and a mighty-looking beard and you have Tarethios Flamekeeper, a man of many titles and occupations. General *'Age: 143' *'Place of Birth: Flamekeeper vineyard, Eversong' *'Alignment: Lawful Neutral' *'Affiliation: Horde (formerly the Alliance), Silvermoon City, the Magisters, the Sunwarders' *'Relatives: Erinel Flamekeeper (sister, deceased), Rendaras Flamekeeper (father, deceased), Caelis Flamekeeper (mother)' Appereance Tarethios has a weak and a frail body, one much smaller than that of an average elven male. A rather long, unshaved beard decends downwards from his chin. Both the beard and the hair, so messy and unkempt, share their colour with rusted iron. Two fel green eyes reside in the middle of his fair-skinned or even pale face. Countless potions, poisons, pouches and bags of all kinds surround his waist, spreading everything between the pleasant smell of herbs and the foul stench of an abomination's guts. Background Born a century and several decades ago (143 years), Tarethios was the second child of Caelis and Rendaras Flamekeeper, the winemakers with a vineyard of their own near the borders of what is known as Eversong these days. Whether it was stomping grapes or tending the vines, he and his sister Erinel had work to do from the very moment they woke up in the morning to the calm breeze of the evening. Attracted by the art of arcane, both he and Erinel served several years as apprentices to the Magisters of the high elven kingdom, eventually becoming arcanists after the Second War and the orcish invasion. Before the Scourge came, Tarethios went as far as being promoted into a magister, whereas Erinel had to stay as an arcanist. The Scourge came, ravaged the kingdom of Lordaeron (and Quel'thalas with it), defiled the Sunwell and left the undead to haunt the lands in order to take care of what remained of the once glorious high elven race. Tarethios and Erinel were lucky enough to only lose their father and their home. But then the arcane addiction struck them as much as it did the rest of their kind. Both Erinel and Tarethios left, only that Erinel joined Kael's group, whereas Tarethios wandered off on his own to find the city of Dalaran and ask for the Kirin Tor's aid. Arriving to the city, he was imprisoned by Garithos's men like the rest of the elves, including his dear sister. With the aid of Vashj, they escaped through the portal to Outland, the shattered planet beyond Azeroth. Before the releasing of Illidan from Maiev, Tarethios left the blood elven-naga camp to discover the unknown plants and animals of the new world even though he was aware it would most likely be his demise. But it was not. Wandering for years in Outland, surviving with the food and water provided by the surrounding nature (which was non-existant in the dry areas of Hellfire Peninsula), the Dark Portal was re-opened and along with it came the autonomous Cenarion Expedition. Sharing his interest in plants and the wildlife, he could not resist to work with them despite the fact that many of them were night elves. It was also his very first chance in life to see one of the tauren. The hostile attitude of the humans was no surprise to him, but the dwarves and the gnomes who were throwing their hate at him did make him tap his chin and scratch his head once or twice. Once the races of the new Horde came in, including the orcs, the trolls of the Darkspear, the Forsaken and the tauren, it was all explained to him with details. His people were now a part of the Horde and the Alliance was their enemy. Hearing about his home being rebuilt, he left the mysterious swamps of Zangarmarsh in order to return back to Quel'thalas once again. Much has happened during his years in Quel'thalas after leaving Outland. Upon his arrival, the Sunwell was already restored and the Horde was planning to send their forces to Northrend. The death of his sister and their constant battles of life and death after her reanimation ended in one final struggle. The Sunwarders was the name of the order he joined, rising through its ranks like a rocket, eventually reaching the title of the top dog, the Quel'thaeron. Later on, he gave away his title to t'Qualle Ashana Brightfire (known as Ashana Flamedancer back then) and now serves the Sunwarders as their second-in-command, the Bloodwarder along with their kingdom as a magister. Even before he had joined the Magisters, his lust for knowledge and information was exceptional if not even disturbing. He began experimenting with alchemy and studied the surrounding enviroment, everything from plants to animals to rocks. These days, after all the experience he has gathered during the passing decades, he is an expert in biology, alchemy and chemistry, history (of his own people and a bit of the others') and archeology is not unknown to him either. However, all this studying and reading has cost him the time he could have used to practice warfare tactics and combat. Interested in uniting the races of the Horde and settling their differences, the nearly middle aged magister has requested the position as one of the ambassadors for the city of Silvermoon and its people. Eventually, he was accepted to carry the title and now serves as an ambassador to Silvermoon, the Bloodwarder of the Sunwarders and a loyal member of the Horde. While still performing his duties as an ambassador and as a magister in Silvermoon and other cities of importance such as Orgrimmar, rumours say that he has moved to the desert of Tanaris, most likely staying at the goblin town of Gadgetzan. As it is home to many goblins and alchemist colleagues, it would not be surprising for him to travel there. The ruins scattered across the desert are certainly of interest for him as well. Quotes "Studying is what makes life better for all of us." "Knowledge gives you power. With power you can conquer. With conquering you can have whatever you wish. And what I wish for, is knowledge." Combat Should Tarethios be forced to fight, he will open the battle with the strongest possible spells available. As a seasoned sorcerer, he has command over many mighty spells and rituals but with little combat experience. Should he be drained of energy by his spells, he will resort to his other area of expertise; alchemy. He will either use his potions to restore his energy or hurl his vials of poison at his enemies. As a long-time assistant to the Forsaken apothecaries if not even one himself, he has access to some of the most powerful and deadliest recipes known by the common mortals. Out of Character Information A level 80 blood elf mage on the realm of Argent Dawn (EU). The character is a member of the Sunwarders and he is the second-in-command of the guild. The image of Tarethios in the character infobox was made by Luei of Argent Dawn (EU). I did not make this picture myself (however, I did edit it to make it fit into box. For a full version of this picture along with Luei's signature, visit the Argent Archives profile linked below). External links *Tarethios at ArgentArchives.org